Green Bay — There were no position changes on the offensive line following the Green Bay Packers' exhibition opener, but there was a change in Allen Barbre's grip on the right tackle spot.

As of Monday afternoon, Barbre was splitting snaps with his main competition, Breno Giacomini, and will continue to do so until a decision is made on which player will start. Barbre lined up with the No. 1s to begin practice Monday, but Giacomini got an equal number of snaps with the starters.

It's not that Barbre has fallen flat on his face; it's more that Giacomini has fully recovered from offseason ankle surgery and appears to be hitting his stride.

"I'd say it's a function of the improvement of Breno because of where he started at the beginning of training camp," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "He was coming off the injury list and was in the one-a-day mind-set when he started camp, and he's really picked it up."

At 6-7, 311 pounds, Giacomini is an imposing presence at right tackle. His pass blocking is way ahead of his run blocking because he's able to use his long reach to control the defender in front of him and his strong legs to anchor when he's being bull-rushed.

His height is a bit of a detriment in run blocking because he has to get lower than the defender and doing that at 6-7 is not easy. If he continues to grow as a run blocker, he's going to be hard to keep out of the lineup.

"The more reps they give me, the better I feel and the better I get," said Giacomini, who rode the bench as a rookie last year.

Asked about his performance against the Browns, he said, "I thought it was pretty good. We have a lot to work on. That's about it. I've got to improve on everything in the run game, and the pass game I've got to be quicker. Just keep improving."

Barbre is the best athlete on the offensive line and plays to the whistle. But he's still picking up on the finer techniques of pass blocking and needs to be more consistent overall. He said he felt he did not commit many mental errors Saturday and felt good about his performance.

"I think Allen has been very solid," McCarthy said. "We feel comfortable with Allen. There's some technical things he needs to work on, but I think he's been pretty consistent and very physical. I thought his back-side blocking was something that was well-done. I think it's going to be a very good competition as we move forward here in the next couple weeks."

All laced up: For the first time since tearing the ACL in his right knee against Minnesota Nov. 9, linebacker Nick Barnett was in full pads with the rest of his teammates.

Activated from the physically unable to perform list, Barnett was limited to individual and seven-on-seven passing drills because McCarthy didn't want to risk him getting caught up in a pile in his first week back.

Barnett will continue to operate that way, probably only practicing once a day and without much contact through this week. He won't play against Buffalo on Saturday but is hoping he'll get to play against Arizona Aug. 28.

"It felt great," Barnett said. "I was able to run around and I don't think I was babying it. The next step is starting to hit people."

While absent, Barnett's backups, Brandon Chillar and Desmond Bishop, have had outstanding camps, warranting consideration for playing time. Asked if he'd be upset if Chillar or Bishop were the ones playing in the nickel package on passing downs, Barnett joked, "No, because I'd be out there, too."

Barnett does not even want to entertain the thought of coming off the field because he thinks that would undermine his position as leader of the defense. He said his knee is strong and there will be no limitations this year.

"I think if they're worried about fatiguing my knee, then they'll cut me or something," he said. "I'm not worried about that. How good could I be if I only play two downs? I'm not really a two-down linebacker."

Also returning: A pair of defensive draft choices, B.J. Raji and Brad Jones, made their debuts on the practice field. Raji was absent in a contract dispute, and Jones was out after suffering a back injury in the team's conditioning test the day before the first practice.

Raji will be limited this week to one practice a day and about 30% of the reps at left end so he can build up his endurance. There's a pretty good chance he'll play against the Bills.

"Nice to have B.J. out here," McCarthy said. "I thought he got off to a good start today. The information leading up to today's practice . . . the strength and conditioning staff feel he is in good shape."

Jones, an outside linebacker, received a lot of snaps, playing behind Aaron Kampman on the left side.

No talk: The Packers strongly considered signing quarterback Michael Vick but never sent a team representative to visit with him.

"We didn't personally go down there and talk to him," football operations director Reggie McKenzie said. "We investigated it just like everybody else we talk about."

According to McKenzie, the personnel department recommended going after Vick.

"We all were, 'Go get him,' " said McKenzie. "But we're not taking a bullet like those guys are. Coach Mike had to have a plan for him and Ted (Thompson) had to be comfortable with it from an organizational standpoint. We did our jobs and told them what we thought; then it was all on Ted and coach Mike."

Vick signed with Philadelphia on Friday.

Bob McGinn and Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.